Stop saying Marc Bulger can be Kurt Warner

By Greg Esposito/ArizonaSports.com Published: May 17, 2011 @ 4:24pm

Life is filled with lookalikes and imposters. RC Cola
tries to be Coca Cola. Spam thinks it's real meat. Vin
Diesel would like you to believe he's an actor. Lady Gaga
pretends to be Madonna -- as if she was fooling anyone who
was alive in the ‘80s -- and I try to impersonate a
humorous sports writer. Sometimes it's difficult to tell
the fake thing from the genuine article, sometimes it's
not.

Even Mrs. Espo has fallen prey to this. Just this past
weekend she went to get into her car only to find out the
vehicle she was pulling the handle and trying to unlock
belonged to the nice people standing directly behind her.
Her car was sitting a few feet away painted in a slightly
different shade of tan.

It was an awkward moment for her as these strangers stood
there staring (and I damn near fell over laughing at it
because I was trying to tell her it was the wrong car).
Just like anytime someone or something tries to fool you,
she felt duped and embarrassed.

If the Arizona Cardinals aren't careful they may fall into
this same trap in their search for a new starting
quarterback.

If we are to believe the Internet and the experts that get
quoted on it -- < Sarcasm >and why wouldn't we, they're
paid to be right< /Sarcasm >-- Marc Bulger has a
legitimate chance of becoming the Cards' next signal
caller.

On the surface Bulger looks very similar to the Kurt
Warner who found his way to the desert in 2005. Both had
success with the St. Louis Rams as accurate passers who
completed a high percentage of their passes and who piled
up touchdowns. Each were non-factors for the teams they
joined immediately following their time in the Midwest.
They were viewed by many as washed up when they became
free agents and likely backups for the rest of their
careers.

While Bulger may resemble the ‘bearded one' don't be
fooled, he's never sported facial hair in his NFL career.
More importantly though, he wasn't the winner that Warner
was prior to coming to Arizona.

Bulger finished his time in St. Louis with an Arizona
Diamondback-esque winning percentage (.432) in the regular
season. Warner won 70-percent of his regular season games
for the Rams. In eight seasons as the starter Bulger won
two division titles. Warner won one more than that in just
five seasons. Oh, and in the playoffs Bulger's record was
no match for what Warner got done. He finished 1-2 while
his predecessor was an impressive 5-2 (with two Super Bowl
appearances, one title and a Super Bowl MVP).

Some people believe Bulger is a real option for the
Cardinals because he's a reliable veteran. Everyone else
wants to hold out hope that if Kevin Kolb, Kyle Orton,
Carson Palmer and every other legitimate option under the
age of 30 falls through that somehow Bulger can be the
second coming of Warner. Even if the franchise is lucky
enough to have lightning strike twice -- or the Suns
trainer Aaron Nelson shares the fountain of youth with the
Cardinals -- remember that in his prime he wasn't as good
as Warner so he most certainly won't be at 34-years-old.

There won't be another Warner so the Cardinals shouldn't
waste their time trying to find him. They say ‘accept no
substitutes' and that's exactly what Bulger would be. No
matter how much he may look like Warner, he'll never be
more than the RC Cola version of him.

Right on. We don't need another old dude. We need a franchise QB. As people keep saying, it looks like Arizona is recruiting for it's retirement communities- signing old vets who still think they can play to 1 year deals. Haggans being the only exception considering the shape he's in. Palmer should be the oldest QB we look at. If Kolb and Orton are too expensive, shoot let's just stick with Skelton/Hall/Barrtel.